Anca Dunavete

Wow, this feels weird. The last time I sat down to write a post for my blog was a year ago… plus ten days, give or take. I find that really sad, but such is (adult) life, I guess. What have I been up to in the meantime, you ask? Well, pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of coffee (maybe pour the cup of coffee first) and let me tell you all about the… job, the wedding and the honeymoon in New Zealand I’ve been busy with. Oh my goodness, now this feels weird!

Okay then. Let’s start from the beginning.

The job.

There is no job, but I wasn’t lying. There was a job. At least some kind of job. I spent most of last year working for a remote content agency, and can I just say… it was a lot. Like, a huge, massive, crazy amount. Make it bigger now. No, more. There. About that much. (Probably bigger still.) A lot of what, you ask? Hmmm. It’s all been a blur since I left, to be honest.

The days all looked the same, so very much the same that all I (barely) remember is that I was writing SO MUCH. I didn’t even realise it when I was working because, well, I didn’t have time! I was writing so much that I didn’t have time to think – and when it was over, I didn’t want to write or think about anything to do with (ok, can I repeat myself again?) writing or thinking. At least not until the next day. Ugh.

I made some good money and made a few clients happy (although they didn’t know it was me who made them happy because it all went through the agency, remember? Yeah, ghostwriting sucks like that.) And then I left and went back to being a happy, carefree freelancer… without much work on my plate! Because as you can imagine, I couldn’t keep any other clients during my time at the agency (I did keep one or two, but that’s nowhere near enough in terms of volume of work).

Mind you, I tried, but failed miserably because I was too overworked to concentrate on more work. I never missed a deadline (thanks, journalism school, I really was a model student), but the quality of my work suffered. It wasn’t bad per se, it was just… kind of shallow. Just like my brain in those days. Actually, that’s not true, my brain wasn’t shallow, it was FRIED. It’s really good to have it fully functional again, to be honest. I really missed it! (Poor old brain, it’s a great thing to have, but why did they make them so self-destructive-when-bored in the first place? I guess we’ll never know, and I refuse to let mine anywhere near that question… hey! I said don’t go there, brain!)

All this is to say that a) I worked a lot last year and so I’ve been absent here, on social media (I’ve been posting pictures and such, but my captions have mainly consisted of rows of emojis – a writer’s worst nightmare 🤡) and in my friends’ lives (I wasn’t always the best company. My brain was fried, remember?), but also b) I’m back, I’m looking for new stuff to do, and I’M SO HAPPY TO BE BLOGGING AGAIN! You have no idea. I mean it. SO HAPPY. I CAN’T LOWERCASE ANYMORE!

The wedding.

Being married is great. In our case, it’s no different than not being married (apart from, you know, the legal stuff) because being with my husband has always been great. But I still find it exciting to say that I’m married, because seriously now – have you seen us? No? Then let me paint the picture for you (but you can also see us if you, uh, scroll down a bit or follow me on social media. Or invite us to dinner. Whatever floats your boat!)

Here’s the story: Alberto and I met in London about four years ago (we now live in Italy… that’s another story). I could say a lot about what I saw in him; he was sweet, he was smart, he was funny and he was so incredibly kind, but it wasn’t those things that made me think he was the one. There was something else, something that I think is much more important than a person’s most impressive qualities.

It was the fact that I never had any reason to doubt him. I didn’t have to ask my friends what they thought he meant by that text. I didn’t have to sit anxiously by the phone and wait… at least not more than once or twice! He did play it a little cool, I’ll give him that. And I never had to wonder if he still liked or loved me after an argument. Because he did, and he does.

And so I learnt what the greatest gift a person can give to another is, a gift that Alberto gave me from the very beginning: he was there, and he didn’t make me question anything. And so, I didn’t. I just knew.

I knew he was there, and I was safe, happy and loved when I was with him. And when I wasn’t with him. I never knew a love like that before. And it was very, very good to know it. I mean, here we are today – happily married, still thinking about our wedding day, already wishing we could do it all over again (according to my hairdresser, we can celebrate our 10th, 20th and so on anniversaries by getting married again! She did it and advised me to do it too. I said I’d think about it and I am).

What can I say? My 20s were all fun (and games?!), but my 30s are already better. Less than a month after my 31st birthday, I married my best friend and greatest love in this life, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us. Thing is, I already know that as long as I get to do life with him, I’ll be fine. And I’ll do my best to make sure he is too. (And I’m trying really hard not to insert a whole bunch of heart emojis here!)

The… New Zealand!

Listen. If you happen to be born in, live there, or have even the slightest possibility of moving to New Zealand (do it! DO IT!), I’m going to have to give you the look when I see you. You know what look! The I’m-so-incredibly-envious-of-you look! And if I see you anywhere outside of that beautiful country, don’t be surprised if I also give you the did-it-hurt-when-you-fell-from-heaven look. Heaven in this case would be New Zealand, of course. What are you doing out here, with the rest of us?!

This part of the post deserves its own… post. I’m serious. I never took travel writing seriously (because isn’t everyone a travel writer these days?) until I landed in Queenstown. Well, actually, I landed in Auckland first, but that’s a story for another… post, as I said. Queenstown was the first place I cried in because it was UNREAL. Don’t believe me? Just Google it! Or, better yet, visit it. There’s nothing like the golden hour over Queenstown. Nothing. Nada. No… I don’t know how you say it in Maori, but you get my drift.

We spent three weeks in New Zealand after the wedding, and they were some of the happiest days of my life, along with our wedding day, the day we got our first puppy (our only puppy so far, but I’m working on it), the day we climbed Pico Ruivo in Madeira (the only reason I didn’t cry tears of joy that time was because I was completely speechless), the day I got a tattoo with my best friend (and then got drunk and forgot about it until the next day when we woke up with new tattoos. Fun!), and… ok, it’s a long list. I’ll come back to it!

I have so much to say about it all, really. We visited Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington, Kaikoura, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Abel Tasman National Park, Christchurch, Kaiteriteri… and probably other places I can’t think of right now, but will remember when I write my first travel blog. Sorry, internet, it’s happening! I’m going to be a travel blogger too! What do you mean there are too many of us? No, don’t you roll your eyes at me! This is important, okay? My honeymoon is important…

… my wedding is important…

… my work is important…

… my blog is important.

Because I say so, that’s why. Back me up, will you? In return, I’ll argue that your everything is important too. Because it is! Even if it’s only important to one person, then it’s important, full stop. And it’s okay if that person is you. I promise that others will get curious too (and if they don’t, who cares? I bet you’ll still look back on it and like it – and that’s important 😉).

The future.

I’m only joking. I don’t have this section ready for you to read just yet. I’m still working on it myself. But I am working on it, and so far it’s coming along nicely! Included are things like translating my book Dorina Supereroina into Italian (and maybe Romanian), working on a personal branding project that I’ve been thinking about for a while, and learning how to make my favourite comfort food (things like parmiggiana, mousaka, lasagna, shakshouka… and so on. So far I can make a really good tocăniţă, so there is hope for me).

I’m also looking for new clients to write for, otherwise I’ll end up writing for (my existing clients and) this blog a little bit more than would be considered acceptable, and I have no intention of being annoying like that. Fine, I might get on with the newsletter too. And maybe write the second Dorina Supereroina, which already partly exists in my head. (I also have this idea that has to do with writing prompts and building a community around fun short stories we can all write together, but that might be taking it too far, too soon.)

By the way, if you want to work with me, feel free to reach out! Rest assured, when it comes to your content, I’ll tone down the jokes (if you really insist).

All in all, I’m just really happy about being here for now – so I’m going to breathe, take it easy, and try my hand at this consistency thing to begin with. Then we’ll see which of my projects grows wings first. I just hope you’ll (still) be around to see it! I say that with a big smile on my face, by the way. I know some of you have been around since 2012, and I’m so glad you’re still here. This space has grown with me over the years (and has often been left behind, but I think that was part of the growth) and I really love it here. More than anywhere else on the internet.

I’d say ‘anywhere in the world’, but I think we’ve already established that for me that would be New Zealand.

Anca x